THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, August 22, 1995               TAG: 9508220305
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
        THE WASHINGTON POST 
DATELINE: ANNAPOLIS, MD.                     LENGTH: Medium:   51 lines

NAVAL ACADEMY EASES ITS POLICY ON PREGNANCY FOR MIDSHIPMEN THEY STILL WON'T BE ABLE TO MARRY OR SUPPORT FAMILIES.

The U.S. Naval Academy has softened its policy toward midshipmen who become pregnant or father a child, announcing Monday that the students will be allowed to return to school after a one-year leave of absence if they have given up custody of their children.

In the past, female midshipmen would have had to choose between expulsion or having an abortion and male midshipmen could not have acknowledged paternity and remained at the academy.

While offering more support to pregnant midshipmen, the new policy upholds a standard at the prestigious officer-training college since its founding 150 years ago: Midshipmen cannot marry or support families.

The academy's superintendent, Adm. Charles R. Larson, said the new policy reflects the school's responsibility toward the health and well-being of its students.

Midshipmen who are prospective parents will have to take a year off. At the end, if the midshipman has relinquished legal responsibility for the child - either giving the baby up for adoption or transferring legal guardianship to friends or relatives - he or she may reapply to the school's academic board for readmission.

Anti-abortion and abortion-rights activists alike said they found the policy enlightened.

``Giving the midshipman the option for a leave of absence will lessen the pressure to get an abortion,'' said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.

In May, after complaints from the committee and other groups, Larson rejected an advisory panel's proposal to allow midshipmen to stay at the academy if they terminated the pregnancy within 30 days.

Johnson said the rejected policy equaled an order to "abort the baby or walk the plank."

Under the new policy, midshipmen who become pregnant will be granted medical care from military hospitals, but civilian women impregnated by midshipmen will not. Midshipmen also will not receive any other benefits or pay during their year off.

Pregnant midshipmen or male midshipmen with dependents who do not take the yearlong leave of absence will be expelled. by CNB